segunda-feira, outubro 15, 2007

In Britain, it is a criminal offense to cause religious and racial hatred. Most people tend to agree with that. But when the law is extended to include inciting hatred based on sexuality, some find the line blurred.

This week, Justice Minister Jack Straw said there would be new legislation making it a crime to incite hatred against those who are gay, bisexual, transgender, and for true equality, heterosexual. Contravening the law could land you in jail for seven years.

A Pakistani drag queen at Lakme Fashion Week. A transgender fronting a Tamil TV show. A gay prince from Gujarat who will be appearing on Oprah to talk about his work for gays and lesbians. These are just some of the stories on alternative sexualities that made it to Indian newspapers in the last week. A foreigner might conclude that this was one country where being gay was not an issue.

WATCHING ANOTHER Woman, and thinking back to Thelma from the 2003 Reel Affirmations festival, one could reasonably wonder whether France is making a 21st century cinematic name for itself with movies about transgender women set in Switzerland.

Excerpt: The San Pedro facility came under sharp criticism last summer when a transgender Mexican immigrant with AIDS being housed there died while in custody. The family claimed Victor Arellano was improperly denied medical attention, a contention immigration officials rejected.